TOY STORY 4 by Urizen

TOY STORY 4 REVIEW

by

URIZEN

Oh man, Disney is really hitting hard with the nostalgia this year. We had Aladdin, Lion King coming up and now we have Toy Story 4. I was both thrilled and upset when this was announced a while back. On one hand, it is Toy Story! It has been such a great thing and a part of my life since I was a child. On the other hand though, things wrapped up so nicely in the third movie, this movie just seemed so unnecessary. Ultimately though, I decided I had to go see it. I’m going to pretend that with Woody being sad and with Andy now being gone, Charles Lee Ray finally got his wish, but Andy hid the toys with Bonnie in Toy Story 3 to keep them safe. I wanted to go to see Child’s Play and am trying to find time and money to do so.

   So anyways, Toy Story 4! This story takes place 2 years after the end of Toy Story 3. Bonnie is getting ready to start Kindergarten and Woody is feeling rejected by her. All of the other toys have been picked to be played with multiple times while he gets left alone in the closet. Due to his relationship with Andy though, Woody feels it is his job to bring happiness to Bonnie and help her, the feeling only being increased when he sees her crying about having to go to Kindergarten orientation without a toy. Sneaking into Bonnie’s backpack, Woody travels with her to school, sneaking around to help her with a project. This leads to Bonnie creating the newest member of the family, Forky. Forky is a plastic spork with pipe cleaner arms, googly eyes, and feet made out of a broken popsicle stick. Bonnie's happiness grows tremendously at Forky. Forky, though, questions his existence. He doesn’t understand why he is alive, and sees himself as trash. It is actually really funny as he keeps being almost drawn to trash cans, trying to run to them every time he sees one, with Woody having to stay in the one next to Bonnie’s bed, just to keep throwing him out of it.

   Woody from this point on sees himself as Forky's caretaker. Forky makes Bonnie so happy, therefore he will do everything in his power to make sure Forky learns to be Bonnie’s toy, to bring her the happiness that Woody once brought to Andy. Meanwhile, Bonnie’s family decides to go on a road trip before Bonnie starts school. Along the way, Forky ends up jumping out the window of the RV as he still just sees himself as trash and not a toy. Woody meanwhile goes after him. While trying to get him and get them back to Bonnie, they meet a slew of toys, including reuniting with Bo Peep who has been living on her own as a lost toy for years.

   There is no other way to say it, the movie is great. I was really worried about this movie. Having three movies that were already very successful was an accomplishment enough, especially for Disney, but a fourth? I didn’t see any way it could happen, but I was certainly wrong. I have said it before, but I truly feel this is the final film in the series at last, and I am glad they ended this the way they did. That’s not to say this is a perfect movie though. It has small issues. Given there are far less of those, I will talk about them first.

   One of the first things was, it didn’t have much focus on the other toys. We got introduced to a bunch of new ones, such as Keanu Reeves' Duke Caboom, Key and Peele's Ducky and Bunny, and Christina Hendricks’ Gabby Gabby, but we hardly got anytime with any of the older toys. Woody, Forky and Bo were the main cast in this for sure. Even Buzz didn’t get as much, though he was hilarious in there. Tim Allen killed it, as usual, in that role. I just think if this is the last one, it would have been good to spend a bit more time with the others as well. Mr. Potato Head is the exception with this. In 2017, comedian and voice of Mr. Potato Head, Don Rickles, passed away. For the movie, Mr. Potato Head is voiced using archived audio from the previous movies. He only has a few lines there, but I appreciate how it was done in that case.

   As far as anything else goes, Woody’s head maybe seemed a little bigger which was weird. Really I think that was it. I was sure for a while that I would hate Forky honestly. From the moment I saw the first image of him, I had a bad feeling. Glad to see I was proven wrong on that. He was surprisingly funny and entertaining. I was also a little worried on how Bo was being handled with this.  I was happy to see her as this strong, independent character, but was worried where they would go with it. Thankfully the fundamentals of her character are still there, and the change Bo had to go through makes perfect sense.  She was amazing in this and I was thrilled with the more major role she had.

   We once again have Randy Newman coming back to do the music which is great. The soundtrack was wonderful throughout the movie. Hearing “You've Got A Friend in Me" playing at the beginning brought a smile to my face as the nostalgia rushed over me. On that, having the original cast back is always good and while there wasn’t much of them, they really did good in the roles again. Hearing Tom Hanks and Tim Allen together again just makes me happy. All of the others did well also for the new toys. Keanu Reeves and Key and Peele were all hilarious and got plenty of laughs in their roles. And Christina Hendricks did wonderful as Gabby Gabby.

   On the subject of that, Gabby Gabby was a great character. She is a talking doll that resides in an antique shop Woody stumbles into. Gabby wants a new voice box as hers is broken. Woody naturally has the exact same type of voice box she has, so Gabby has her eyes set on it. Aided by her servants, a small group of dummy puppets, she sets out to obtain Woody’s voice box and make it her own. There is a lot more to her character and she quickly became one of my favorites. Her dummies though are downright terrifying and made me think I may be was watching a horror movie.

   One of the small things I loved and always really have, is the detail that goes into how these toys move. The proportion and composition of the dummies causes their running to be different than Forky who has limited movement due to being a spork with popsicle sticks glued to it. It is something I have always liked, but could really shine here.

   On that subject, I appreciate that how over time, the animation has improved so much in these movies, but it has still always felt like Toy Story. The feel has always been there and characters have never drastically changed. We did get a bit of change with Bo in this as she became a lost toy. Most of that was an outfit change though.

   I still have a question though…. When do these toys become sentient? Forky didn't become living until he got his eyes it seemed, and it wasn't immediate. Even after that, he knew he came from the trash.  He knew he was a spork. He knew his purpose as a spork and that it had been fulfilled. Was he always conscious and only became able to communicate when he had eyes? How does this work??? Also Woody jumps in a toy truck, but it isn't living, it's just a toy.  Are the eyes what bring it to life? Is it the mouth?  Can a slice of pizza become a living creature if it gets eyes? These are all questions I need to know.

   At the end of the day, is Toy Story 4 a perfect movie? No, it has its minor flaws as all of the other movies had. Also like those, it was a really great film. While probably not good for people that are completely new to the series, for everyone who has been with it for this many years, it’s just as good as the others. After so many years, just as I thought after watching 3, it is sad to see it end, and while this movie was an emotional ride, the only times I stopped smiling and laughing were when I got that emotional gut punch from a few of these scenes. If you haven't seen it yet, get out there and watch it. That's your mission space ranger. Watch it, show your kids and form these memories that will last forever. Now let's go, to infinity and beyond!